Dominican Republic
Description Appearance Male version The male version of the Dominican Republic wears a white, blue, and red sailors suit without the hat. The shirt is mainly white and has a red and blue strip on the rolled up sleeves. It is a button up shirt with the buttons being blue that match his pants and flag face. His pants are mostly skin tight but are a little loose on him. Female version The female version wears a skirt and a belly showing top. It's the same color palette as the male version and also has strips on her skirt and shirt like in the male version. Her top is mostly white though and her skirt is as well. She also wears large golden ring earrings. Personality The Dominican Republic is very hyper and energetic. They are know to act childish, but they still can be serious if they need to. Being part of a large family, they are very loud even when they doesn't mean to be and they love to socialize with other countries. This is one of the reasons Dominican Republic is happy to share an island with Haiti, and loves to cheer him up. Interests * Cheering up Haiti * Socializing Flag meaning The flag of the Dominican Republic was designed by founding father Juan Pablo Duarte, and adopted in 1844. It is centered with a white cross that extends to the edges and divides the flag into four rectangles. The color blue is for liberty, red for the blood of heroes, and white for salvation. A small coat of arms rests at the center of the flag. Other symbols The Dominican Republic coat of arms features a shield in quartered colors of the flag, with a laurel branch to the left and a palm frond to the right. The blue ribbon above the shield displays the national motto: Dios, Patria, Libertad (God, Fatherland, Liberty). Below the shield, the words República Dominicana appear on a red ribbon. In the center of the shield, flanked by six spears, is a Bible with a small golden cross above it. Popular belief claims that the pages are opened to the Gospel of John 8:32, which reads, "Y la verdad os hará libre." (And the truth shall make you free.) Nicknames * Dominican Origin of the language The Dominican Republic coat of arms features a shield in quartered colors of the flag, with a laurel branch to the left and a palm frond to the right. The blue ribbon above the shield displays the national motto: Dios, Patria, Libertad (God, Fatherland, Liberty). Below the shield, the words República Dominicana appear on a red ribbon. In the center of the shield, flanked by six spears, is a Bible with a small golden cross above it. Popular belief claims that the pages are opened to the Gospel of John 8:32, which reads, "Y la verdad os hará libre." (And the truth shall make you free.) The dialect of Spanish used in Arab-occupied Spain before the 12th century was called Mozarabic. A remarkably archaic form of Spanish with many borrowings from Arabic, it is known primarily from Mozarabic refrains (called kharjahs) added to Arabic and Hebrew poems. Etymology The "Dominican" word comes from the Latin Dominicus, meaning Sunday. However, the island has this name by Santo Domingo de Guzmán (Saint Dominic), founder of the Order of the Dominicans. History The Dominican Republic was explored by Columbus on his first voyage in 1492. He named it La Española, and his son, Diego, was its first viceroy. The capital, Santo Domingo, founded in 1496, is the oldest European settlement in the Western Hemisphere. Spain ceded the colony to France in 1795, and Haitian blacks under Toussaint L'Ouverture conquered it in 1801. In 1808, the people revolted and captured Santo Domingo the next year, setting up the first republic. Spain regained title to the colony in 1814. In 1821 Spanish rule was overthrown, but in 1822 the colony was reconquered by the Haitians. In 1844, the Haitians were thrown out and the Dominican Republic was established, headed by Pedro Santana. Uprisings and Haitian attacks led Santana to make the country a province of Spain from 1861 to 1865. President Buenaventura Báez, faced with an economy in shambles, attempted to have the country annexed to the U.S. in 1870, but the U.S. Senate refused to ratify a treaty of annexation. Disorder continued until the dictatorship of Ulíses Heureaux; in 1916, when chaos broke out again, the U.S. sent in a contingent of marines, who remained until 1924. A sergeant in the Dominican army trained by the marines, Rafaél Leonides Trujillo Molina, overthrew Horacio Vásquez in 1930 and established a dictatorship that lasted until his assassination in 1961, 31 years later. In 1962, Juan Bosch of the leftist Dominican Revolutionary Party, became the first democratically elected president in four decades. In 1963, a military coup ousted Bosch and installed a civilian triumvirate. Leftists rebelled against the new regime in April 1965, and U.S. president Lyndon Johnson sent in marines and troops. After a cease-fire in May, a compromise installed Hector Garcia-Godoy as provisional president. In 1966, right-wing candidate Joaquin Balaguer won in free elections against Bosch, and U.S. and other foreign troops withdrew. In 1978, the army suspended the counting of ballots when Balaguer trailed in a fourth-term bid. After a warning from President Jimmy Carter, however, Balaguer accepted the victory of Antonio Guzmán of the Dominican Revolutionary Party. In 1982 elections, Salvador Jorge Blanco of the Dominican Revolutionary Party defeated Balaguer and Bosch. Balaguer was again elected president in May 1986 and remained in office for the next ten years. In 1996, U.S.-raised Leonel Fernández secured more than 51% of the vote through an alliance with Balaguer. The first item on the president's agenda was the partial sale of some state-owned enterprises. Fernández was praised for ending decades of isolationism and improving ties with other Caribbean countries, but he was criticized for not fighting corruption or alleviating the poverty that affects 60% of the population. In Aug. 2000, the center-left Hipólito Mejía was elected president amid popular discontent over power outages in the recently privatized electric industry, but in May 2004 presidential elections, he was defeated by former president Leonel Fernández (1996–2000). Fernández instituted austerity measures to rescue the country from its economic crisis, and in the first half of 2006, the economy grew 11.7%. On May 16, 2008, incumbent president Leonel Fernández was reelected, taking 53% of the vote. He defeated Miguel Vargas of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, who won 41%. After the devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010 in Haiti, the Dominican Republic was one of the first countries to offer aid despite the two countries having a history of conflict. The Dominican Republic sent food, medicine, and teams to assess the damage. The country also eased visa requirements so the injured could seek treatment at Dominican hospitals. Over a year later, in the spring of 2011, protests started and signs were posted, calling for the refugees to go home. By August 2011, Haitian refugees were turned away at the border and in some cases, deported. The shift in attitude showed impatience with Haiti's slow recovery as well as other concerns, including a high unemployment rate, among the highest in Latin American, and cholera, which had killed more than 90 people in the Dominican Republic, many of them Haitian migrants. In October 2011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) received over 450 complaints from people in the Dominican Republic who said their citizenship had been revoked. The complaints came from people who have been recognized as citizens for decades. The IACHR condemned the policy, but on December 1st, the country's Supreme Court rejected a Dominican-born male's request for a birth certificate so he could relocate to the United States. The new policy could affect some 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian origin. In May 20, 2012, Danilo Medina, candidate of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party, won the presidential election. Medina narrowly defeated Hipólito Mejía, receiving 51.24 percent of the vote. Voting fraud allegations followed the election, including claims from other political parties that votes were bought. The Organization of American States confirmed vote-buying, but concluded that it was not enough to determine the outcome of the election so the organization approved the results. On August 16, 2012, Medina takes over for Leonel Fernández, who has been president for 12 of the last 16 years. Fernández's wife, Margarita Cedeño, will serve as Medina's vice-president. Fernández is eligible and expected to run for another term (his fourth) in 2016. Organizations and Affiliations Politics Government The Dominican Republic is a representative democracy, where the President of the Dominican Republic functions as both the head of the government and head of the multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the bicameral National Congress. Diplomacy Santo Domingo Other posts in Santo Domingo * Austria (Embassy Office) * European Union (Delegation) * Puerto Rico (Trade Office) Consulates Consulate-General in Dajabón * Haiti Consulate-General in Higüey * Haiti Consulate-General in Santa Cruz de Barahona * Haiti Consulate-General in Santiago de los Caballeros * Haiti Non-resident embassies Geography The Dominican Republic includes the highest and lowest elevations in the West Indies. Its major mountain ranges and elongated, fertile valleys mainly extend from northwest to southeast. The Cordillera Septentrional, the northernmost range, looms above a narrow coastal plain drained by such short rivers as the Balabonico and the Yasica. The southern slopes of the mountains give way to the extensive Cibao Valley, which stretches from Manzanillo Bay in the northwest to the Samaná Peninsula and the Bay of Samaná in the east. The valley’s fertile soils are fed by two of the nation’s main river systems: the Yaque del Norte, which flows generally northwestward, and the Camu-Yuna system, which flows eastward. The Cordillera Central, the island’s most rugged and imposing feature, is known in Haiti as the Massif du Nord (“Northern Massif”). In Dominican territory its crest line averages some 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) in elevation and rises to 10,417 feet (3,175 metres) at Duarte Peak, the highest mountain in the Caribbean. Other prominent peaks are Yaque, La Rucilla, Bandera, and Mijo. Tributaries of the Yaque del Norte drain most of the range’s northern flanks, whereas its southern flanks are drained by the Yaque del Sur system and the Ocoa, Nizao, and other smaller rivers. The San Juan River, one of the Yaque del Sur’s main tributaries, is the centrepiece of the fertile San Juan Valley, which connects with Haiti’s Central Plateau via the upper Artibonite River valley. Bounding the San Juan Valley to the south is the Sierra de Neiba, which corresponds to the Matheux and Trou d’Eau mountains of Haiti; its high peaks reach approximately 7,200 feet (2,200 metres). Water flowing off the Neiba range drains partly to the Caribbean, via the Yaque del Sur system, and partly inland, to saline Lake Enriquillo. Enriquillo is the country’s largest natural lake, about 23 miles (37 km) long and up to 11 miles (18 km) wide; the lake’s surface is also the lowest point in the West Indies, at 144 feet (44 metres) below sea level. The Dominican Republic’s southernmost range, the Sierra de Baoruco (Bahoruco), is called the Massif de la Selle in Haiti; it overlooks Cape Beata and the arid southwestern plain, including the largely infertile Pedernales region. The Cordillera Oriental forms the country’s less-rugged eastern spine, separating a narrow coastal plain to the north from a wider belt of rolling lowlands to the south, where most of the country’s sugarcane is grown. The region’s main rivers all flow to the Caribbean, including the Ozama, which reaches the coast at Santo Domingo, and the Macorís, Soco, Chavón, and Yuma. The country’s most fertile alluvial soils are located in the valleys of the Yaque del Norte, Yuna, San Juan, and Yaque del Sur rivers, as well as the Ozama and various smaller rivers in the southeast. The mountain slopes have lower-quality soils and are generally covered in forests and grasslands. Salt deposited around Lake Enriquillo creates some of the nation’s only unproductive soils. The Dominican Republic has a moderate, relatively mild tropical climate, although it lies well within the tropical zone. Conditions are ameliorated in many areas by elevation and by the northeast trade winds, which blow steadily from the Atlantic all year long. The annual mean temperature is 77 °F (25 °C); regional mean temperatures range from 69 °F (21 °C) in the heart of the Cordillera Central to as high as 82 °F (28 °C) on the coastal plains. Temperatures rarely rise above 90 °F (32 °C), and freezing temperatures are unknown. The heaviest precipitation is in the mountainous northeast (the windward side of the island), where the average annual rainfall is more than 100 inches (2,540 mm). As the trade winds pass over the country, they lose their moisture on various mountain slopes, so that the far western and southwestern valleys, along the Haitian border, remain relatively dry, with less than 30 inches (760 mm) of annual precipitation. The northwestern and southeastern extremes of the country are also arid. The Dominican Republic is occasionally damaged by tropical storms and hurricanes, which originate in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern Caribbean from August until October each year; hurricanes in 1930, 1954, 1979, and 1998 were particularly devastating. Relationships Friends * South Africa * Argentina * Belize * Brazil * Canada * Chile * Colombia * Costa Rica * Cuba * Ecuador * El Salvador * Guatemala * Guyana * Haiti * Honduras * Jamaica * Mexico * Nicaragua * Panama * Paraguay * Peru * Puerto Rico * Trinidad and Tobago * United States * Uruguay * Armenia * Spain * China * India * Israel * Philippines Neutral Enemies Opinions Trivia 1. Did you know that the island of Hispaniola was the first permanent European settlement in the Americas? '''In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the island during his first voyage across the Atlantic in search of a new route to India for the trade of spices. Aboard his flagship, the Santa Maria, Columbus reached the north coast of the island. '''2. Santo Domingo, the oldest city in the Americas. The city capital of the Dominican Republic is the oldest European settlement in the Americas. Founded by Bartholomew Columbus in 1496, Santo Domingo hosted the first colonial rule of the Spanish Crown in the New World. A city of firsts, it hosts the first Cathedral, the first municipal building and the first university in the New World. 3. The Dominican flag has three colors: red, white and blue. Along with the national anthem and the coat of arms, the flag is one of Dominican Republic’s national symbols. Each of the colors of the flag has a meaning. The white of the cross in the center represents salvation, the red rectangles represent the blood of the heroes who fought for the independence, and the blue rectangles stand for liberty. Founding father Juan Pablo Duarte designed the flag. It’s the only in the world to have the image of the holy bible in it. The bible is open to the Gospel of John chapter 8, verse 32, which reads: “And the truth shall make you free”. 4. Defy gravity in Barahona! In the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic, there is a town called Polo. There you can go challenge gravity at the Magnetic Pole (El Polo Magnético). If you stop your car in neutral gear downhill, your car will roll up! As cool as it sounds, this is what’s called a gravity hill. This is caused by an optical illusion that has to do with the shape of the road and the landscape. Still, pretty cool to experience in person! 5. Unique, precious stones. '''The Dominican Republic has two unique endemic stones that can’t be found anywhere else in the world: Dominican Amber and Larimar. The first one was created millions of years ago due to the warm climate in the DR and the extinct prehistoric leguminous tree, Hymenaea Protera. It is considered the finest amber available worldwide because of the high concentration of fossils included and it’s clear composition. The second one, Larimar, it’s a rare blue variety of the silicate mineral pectolite, with a color that changes from light blue, to green blue to deep blue. '''6. Have fun down the water falls! '''If you’ve never heard of the 27 Waterfalls of Damajagua you’ve been missing out! This is a great adventure spot for families with kids over the age of 12 who enjoy nature, rivers and jumping down waterfalls. You hike all the way up and then come down through a series of caves and water slides for a super fun ride. '''7. Winter home of massive, beautiful creatures. '''Every year, the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, the Bay of Samaná, welcomes between 2,000 and 3,000 of giant humpback whales. They migrate from the north Atlantic to the warm Dominican waters for calving and breeding as their newborns don’t have enough fat to survive the cold winter waters up north. They stay until March before returning to their summer feeding grounds between North America, Greenland, and Iceland. Technically, the humpbacks are native Dominicans living abroad for the summer, how cool is that?! '''8. The highest peak in the Caribbean, Pico Duarte. '''As if it wasn’t cool enough that the Dominican Republic has the lowest elevation in the Caribbean, it is also home of the highest elevation in the region. With 3,087 meters altitude, Pico Duarte welcomes over 3,000 climbers who make the ascend to experience its incredible beauty. '''9. A very salty lake, Lago Enriquillo. '''The lowest elevation in the Caribbean, Lake Enriquillo, it’s an hypersaline lake that covers 375 square kilometers. A very diverse and interesting wildlife inhabits the lake and surrounding areas, among them, beautiful pink flamingos! It is also home to the largest population of American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) living free in their natural habitat in the Caribbean,. There are more than 400 species in its waters. '''10. Palmchat, the national bird of the country it’s totally unique! Known in Spanish as “cigua palmera,” it takes its name after the palm trees. This is where she creates her nests to live and harvest its fruit to feed on it. Palmchat is an endemic species of the island of Hispaniola. It is the only member of the family Dulidae, what makes it one of its kind. They are community-driven. They build their elaborate nests together with a bushel pile of sticks that form an apartment. Each pair of birds (up to 50 pairs) has its own portal to the exterior as well as internal passages. The sticks used in the nests come from wood, coffee, and orange trees. Like Dominicans, Palmchats are known to be joyful, noisy, social and love singing. Who knows, maybe they are singing to the tunes of merengue music, our national rhythm! Category:Country Category:Christian Countries Category:Secular Countries Category:Hispanics Category:Catholic Countries Category:Characters Category:North America Category:The Americas Category:Caribbean Category:Island Countries Category:Latin countries